Baldwin & Sons
Auction 88 8 May 2014
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
BRITISH COINS, MILLED GOLD SOVEREIGNS, George V, Gold Sovereign, 1916, bare head left, rev St George slaying dragon with sword, date in exergue (Bentley 362; Marsh 218; MCE 644; S 3996). A few surface marks and hairlines, otherwise good extremely fine and rare.
Calendar year mintage 1,554,120
Two years into war and still over one million Sovereigns were produced for the reserves of the Bank of England. Most of the 1916 issue and nearly all of the following 1917 issue were exported to America in lieu of payments. These exported pieces were held probably at Fort Knox for many years until the USA passed the Gold Reserve Act at the time of the Great Depression in 1934 where all coin was converted to bars.
Most residual Sovereigns of earlier dates left in the Bank of England may not have survived long, as the Gold Standard Act of 1925 meant that the Treasury banknotes were no longer convertible to gold coin on demand. However the Bank was compelled to sell 400 ounce fine gold bars to any purchaser who asked for it at £3/17/10½d per ounce in legal tender money.
This meant each bar would sell for £1560 each, and there was a demand, as in 1929, and again in 1930 the Bank of England had to melt down a total of 91,350,000 Sovereigns from their stock, which no doubt included any 1916 or 1917 Sovereigns left and many other earlier dates or varieties. Seemingly each 400 ounce gold bar would account for at least 1,421 sovereigns on the basis of this weight alone.
Estimate: £400-500
Calendar year mintage 1,554,120
Two years into war and still over one million Sovereigns were produced for the reserves of the Bank of England. Most of the 1916 issue and nearly all of the following 1917 issue were exported to America in lieu of payments. These exported pieces were held probably at Fort Knox for many years until the USA passed the Gold Reserve Act at the time of the Great Depression in 1934 where all coin was converted to bars.
Most residual Sovereigns of earlier dates left in the Bank of England may not have survived long, as the Gold Standard Act of 1925 meant that the Treasury banknotes were no longer convertible to gold coin on demand. However the Bank was compelled to sell 400 ounce fine gold bars to any purchaser who asked for it at £3/17/10½d per ounce in legal tender money.
This meant each bar would sell for £1560 each, and there was a demand, as in 1929, and again in 1930 the Bank of England had to melt down a total of 91,350,000 Sovereigns from their stock, which no doubt included any 1916 or 1917 Sovereigns left and many other earlier dates or varieties. Seemingly each 400 ounce gold bar would account for at least 1,421 sovereigns on the basis of this weight alone.
Estimate: £400-500